Trooper claims he was illegally reprimanded for Snoop Dogg snapshot

Reports of a trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety being disciplined for posing with Snoop Dogg seemed shocking when they surfaced earlier this year, but a new lawsuit alleges it was par for the course given the agency’s past actions.

On Wednesday this week, attorney Ty Clevenger filed a civil suit against Texas DPS and 10 state
officials over what he claims to be a pattern of retaliatory
action directed towards his client, Trooper Billy Spears, which
peaked with the officer being disciplined in March over an
Instagram post.

The lawsuit alleges that the actions taken against Spears are
part of a “sham investigation” designed to punish the
trooper for filing a complaint against another cop and names the
DPS and ten state officials as defendants.

Spears was working an off-duty security gig at a music festival
in late March when Calvin Broadus, better known as rap artist
Snoop Dogg, approached and asked if the two could pose for a
picture. Moments later, the image was posted to Snoop’s Instagram
account and presented to the rapper’s more than 4 million
followers with the caption “Me n my deputy dogg.”

A photo posted by snoopdogg (@snoopdogg) on Mar 20, 2015 at
11:03am PDT

The trooper assumed posing for the picture would be harmless,
Clevenger says, but soon after it prompted authorities to send a
Texas Highway Patrol lieutenant on an 80-mile round-trip to serve
Spears with an official disciplinary warning.

The “counseling record” filed on March 24, 2015 states that
Spears “took a photo with a public figure who has a well-known
criminal background including numerous drug charges,” a fact
Clevenger says his client wasn’t aware of.It goes on to say that
the trooper should have been “mindful of social media outlets
and how such photos can negatively affect the agency.”
Clevenger immediately cried foul and said that the DPS was unable
to actually point to any set policy that Spears had violated and
contested the action because it will become part of the trooper’s
permanent file.

“They cannot point to any policy rule, law [or] order that he
violated,” Clevenger told a local Fox News affiliate this
week. “Billy knew who Snoop Dogg was but didn’t know about
his criminal record, so that raises the question, well what are
you supposed to do? Every time somebody wants a picture of you in
uniform you need to pull out your little computer and run a
criminal history check?”

On his legal blog, Clevenger recalls hearing about two troopers being
asked by their DPS superiors to take country music legend Willie
Nelson on a tour of the state capitol.He includes a picture to
prove it.

“Apparently it’s OK to be photographed with a long-haired
white musician who smokes weed, but not a long-haired black
musician who smokes weed,” Clevenger wrote.

DPS has refused to dismiss the disciplinary action and Spears is
now taking legal action, claiming the state is going after him on
purpose. According to the suit filed by Clevenger on Wednesday,
the March counseling record is only the latest in a series of
improper actions taken against Trooper Spears subsequent to his
filing a complaint last year concerning Marcus Stokke, a sergeant
with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

On May 10, 2014, Spears and Stokke became involved in a verbal
altercation after Spears, off-duty at the time, attempted to
carry an alcoholic beverage into a prohibited area at a concert.
Spears complied with Stokke’s request to ditch the drink, but
Stokke detained him nevertheless.

“Sgt. Stokke then said he could arrest Trooper Spears for
public intoxication, and Trooper Spears responded that he was not
intoxicated, and that in order to arrest a person for public
intoxication, that person had to be a danger to himself or
others,” the latest complaint reads. “When Sgt. Stokke
disputed that and boasted that he was a sergeant over 24
counties, Trooper Spears explained that he, too, was a state law
enforcement officer, and that he was personally familiar with the
law.” According to the suit, Spears’ response “enraged
Sgt. Stokke even further,” leading him to detain the trooper
without cause before finally releasing him without charge.

Spears filed a complaint with the Texas ABC after the incident
and alleged the officer had committed a Class A misdemeanor by
conducting an unlawful detainment. “Rather than investigate
Sgt. Stokke, however, Trooper Spears's superiors at DPS filed a
disciplinary complaint against Trooper Spears because he had the
audacity to file a complaint against another law enforcement
officer,” the lawsuit reads.

In the petition Clevenger alleges that Spears began being
targeted last May after filing that initial complaint. At one
point he was suspended without pay over the concert incident
until it was brought before the director of DPS, Steve McCraw.

“As a result of my decision, no disciplinary action will be
taken against you. You will receive performance counseling from
your chain of command,” McGraw eventually wrote eight months
later in Jan. 2015. According to Clevenger, however, “performance
counseling” is a DPS-specific reprimand that can’t be appealed,
thereby leaving a scar on Spark’s nearly 10-year history as a
state trooper.

Spears signed off on the counseling record on February 4, but
wrote: “I don't agree with this. My signature is affixed to
comply with policy.” Clevenger believes that statement further
infuriated state officials and motivated them to file a second
disciplinary action after the Snoop Dogg show less than two
months later.

Clevenger asked both counseling records to be removed from the
trooper’s file on April 1, according to the lawsuit, but “Despite
the nearly universal consensus that DPS's senior commanders were
making fools of themselves and embarrassing the entire state,
Defendant McCraw refused to reign in the misconduct within his
agency.”

"The DPS does not discuss pending legislation," the
department said in a statement to Reuters.